In the City
by wisteriagrove
Summary: Modern AU M/M. Part of a series called 'In the city'. Just a small drabble with lots of fluff
1. MAGNUM - Children of Indigo

** \- CHILDREN OF INDIGO**

Based off and amazing song by Children of Indigo. Seriously love their songs. All their music is amazing, but this has got to be my favorite song… Anyways, one of my friends promoted me with number 23 from the 100 drabble challenge here. This is my first published fic, so please be nice :)

* * *

_We took time, went off track_

_We could wander off and come right back_

_It was ours that mountainside_

_Where the sunshine bled we felt aliv_e

* * *

**10:30 - Bates Apt. Londen, England**

"_Where's the cat!?"_

"_I don't know."_

The girl on the screen whirled around, tearing up.

"_Cat!? Cat!?_" After the fifth time, Mary, watching the screen began tearing up too. Not surprised to see her boyfriend visibly struggling to keep his visible emotions intact. It seemed to be only yesterday that they had debated Audrey Hepburn movies last New Year, in a game of cat and mouse.

The credits rolled down the screen. Mary asked the question out loud. "Would you marry me for my money?"

Matthew leaned down, kissing her forehead, gently. And the whole world disappears.

"In a minute."

* * *

_If we got a magnum, I'll love you on the road_

_If we got a living room babe I'll love you when I'm old_

_If we got each other, we'll never be alone_

_Those wheels got us around you bring me home_


	2. COME ON - In the City

**COME ON -In the City**

* * *

_I don't want to stop or get in my way_

_Stick you right in the back of my mind_

_But it won't be easy_

* * *

**10:30 - Bates Apt. Londen, England**

It had become common within the past two years to watch a group movie before or after a holiday; however, Matthew being new and having missed Christmas in Manchester had never come before and had no idea what to expect for the New Year's ritual. Anna had made popcorn and apple pie, and Sybil and Tom had brought enough candy to feed a room full of children. Decided it would be best to host it at Anna and John's house because John owned the apartments and they had one of the larger residents, they sat in the living room. Edith and Mary started a came of Movie Themed Charades.

Mary chooses 'Anne of Green Gables.' She pulled her hair and made a motion of slamming something over someone's head. Everyone sat in a pin drop silence, so Mary rolled her eyes and huddled into a ball, then stood, flailing her arms.

John was the first to guess, "Cast Off! That movie with the stranded man, no, it was Cast Away!"

"No, she's farming," Gwen said, replying to Mary's raking motion, "Maybe Cinderella?"

"Cinderella never farmed, and she didn't hit people either," Anna argued while laughing, she clutched her boyfriend's hand to her heart as her face gradually grew into a deeper shade of pink. She knew Mary well and found it hysterical that she would do anything that might provoke the laughter of her peers, even unintentionally.

"This is ridiculous! Anna stop laughing!" Mary fumed, proving Anna's point while pausing her current skipping long enough to glare in the direction of the large portion of the couch that Bates and Anna were taking up, her head on his chest and his arms around her shoulders. His chin rested on the top of her head carelessly, _oh what it might be like to find love, to have love_, Mary thought with a small twinge of envy.

"You can't talk," Edith said.

Mary just rolled her eyes and ignoring her sister, "Matthew, you too! I find nothing remotely funny in this!" She said, drawing attention to the in the corner, quietly cracking up to himself. Edith was laughing too; Mary couldn't have possibly given herself a more unsuitable role.

Mary had given up on her first approach, now standing in a yoga tree pose.

"You're doing yoga, no… You're a tree!" Sybil cackled in between hysterical giggles. Mary nodded enthusiastically, pointing to Tom and Sybil, sitting together in an overstuffed armchair that John's mother had given him last year as a Christmas present, this year she had given him a telescope and a half-dead sage bush.

"The Lorax!" Tom yelled with such passion, and Mary almost felt bad for him when she shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. Everyone looked at her in confusion, so she ran up to Gwen and pointed at her dark green sweater.

"Jacket tree?" Sybil asked with a hiccuped, a key sign that she had a little too much to drink.

"No, no! Something with green." Matthew said, speaking from the corner of the patched sofa. Mary nodded. "The Green Mile?" Mary paused long enough to give him a stern face of disappointment. Matthew got his message and bit his tongue. His face betraying no emotion, and that alone was emotion, Sybil thought bleakly, _when will two stubborn people ever grow up?_ She was not one for matchmaking, but she was seriously considering making an exception.

"Do you need me to spell it out for you?" Mary asked, grounding Sybil back to reality, starting to skip around again.

"At this point, that might be necessary."

"I think your right, Matthew," John said, doing his best to be diplomatic, "It has to so with green. Just maybe not in the title…"

"Look, She's on a horse!" Tom shouted when Mary spends up her movements. "What's it called when they run?"

"Galloping." Said Sybil, kissing tops cheek fondly, "She's a farmer girl, with a temper, who rides horses. Oh, dear, Tom, sounds like your mother." Tom made a sour face, and the rest of the group laughed. After a moment, Edith and Mary started up their antics again.

"You're quite terrible at this."

"At least I have _some_ talent!" Mary yelled.

"And you still can't talk." Edith grinned.

Mary started to pull at her hair again and banging the invisible items. Gwen and John began to whispering and suggesting movies, but in the end, it was Tom who guessed it in the end. After pointing at Anna several times, he finally got it. "Anne of Green Gables!" he cheered standing up in emphasis after he and Sybil tried every possible movie that involved a tree named Anna. He grinned widely when Mary nodded, but rapidly grew angry, "That's not a Movie!"

"Yes, it is," Edith argued, surprised by herself for defending her sister. "They made a movie a couple of years back, and now there's a TV Show called 'Anne with an 'E.'"

"They also just mad another Little Woman movie." Gwen brought up.

"No one cares about Little Woman."

"I was thinking 'The Green Conspiracy' or 'Green eyes.'" Matthew brought up as Mary sat down next to him and Gwen.

"What on earth does Anna have to do with eyes?" Mary asked

"It looked like you were pointing at her face!"

"It did take you a freakish amount of time to guess." Mary snipped, snuggling into the pillows behind her, turning her head to look at Matthew. "Have you ever even read it?"

"No, and you have?"

"Of course, Granny made me read it, along with the Little Princess and Peter Pan."

"Oh." Matthew said, rolling his eyes, "I must have forgotten, all socialites read victorian novels and watch Audrey Hepburn Movies."

"Do you have a problem with her?" Mary asked with her delicate eyebrows raised.

Matthew looks into his lap sheepishly, playing with his fingers. In reality, he had watched Roman Holiday and Sabrina and enjoyed them both immensely. But he was not about to tell 'Lady Mary Crawley, queen of Sarcasm' that.

After a long debate between Hitchcock and Mean Girls, the group decided upon 'The Lady Vanishes,' A movie from 1938 based on a book by Ethel Lina White. It had taken Matthews persuasive talking, Gwen's big brown eyes, and a threat with a garden rake to convince anyone that Hitchcock used various comedic relief throughout his movies.

Tom and Sybil both sat together, her head resting comfortably on his chest. They whispered a little, but mostly just sat in blissful silence, like a happy couple. Same thing with Anna and Bates, though they talked even less. Gwen had given up her squashed spot in between Annas feet and Mary and had moved to the ground beneath her, she made a nest with a blanket, and relaxed. Gwen chatted lightly and made comments about acting as Mary ran her hands through her red hair, braiding it

absentmindedly. Matthew, set next to Mary, murmured too, though he made more smart remarks or witty replies on the characters morals. Edith sat behind them all, at the kitchen table, watching with a genuinely happy expression, not realizing that everyone had forgotten she was there.

Matthew grinned two himself, all three of the Crawley girls seemed to enjoy the movie, and that was a significant accomplishment. It was hard to get them to agree.

"What language are they speaking?" Gwen asked timidly, a little more than ten minutes into the movies.

No one had an answer, so Anna whipped out her phone and Googled it, "They're speaking a made-up language called Badrikian, to go along with the fictional country they made up in central Europe. Sounds like somewhere in between Switzerland and Italy by the scenery and the architecture," Her sweet voice trailed as a pair of unidentified hands strangled an unexpecting musician, coming from the left of the screen, approaching slowing like a vine growing in slow motion, quitting the peaceful melody and invoking a dark sense of the film, that wasn't there before.

"I nearly gave up on it, nothing was happening," Edith spoke lazily from the kitchen table, startling everyone with the sound of her voice.

"Classic Hitchcock, with the hands," Tom said, regaining his witts after he jumped.

"I like it. It has a nice story so far." Came Mary's voice. She has slowly and subconsciously moved closer to Matthew. Now their legs were touching lightly, and she could feel the comforting heat radiating from him, and it was honestly a little distracting when she was trying her best to focus on the movie.

"It's slow, that's the first real thing that's happening," Edith complained. Mary was too tired to argue.

At one point, Mary's eyelids grew too heavy. She let into her exhaustion. It had been a tiring day, She had slept through her alarm, and Sybil had woken her up a half hour minutes late, she came to work late and spent her whole day trying to catch up. It was a wonder he boss; Henry Tabot didn't care, Henry was the worst type of boss you could have; he was arrogant and pushy, and liked to criticize everything. His poor assistant was reprimanded whenever his tea was too cold, and his food too hot. Gods, working for him was like living in 'The Devil Wears Prada.' She was waiting to start her own business, handmade jewelry made by herself and Sybil.

It was taking a long time to save enough money, she was too proud to ask from her parents, and Sybil didn't want to bother Tom with that, even though he probably would have invested all of his money into her if she asked, but he didn't have enough money to spend in that way. Even with a well paying job, it was hard to save up that much while still paying rent and buying clothes and groceries, even with the small amount John deducted off of her lease. He never told her he did that, but she knew, and he knew she knew. So far she had told only Anna, Tom and Sybil. Sybil came up with the idea alongside her, so she said to her boyfriend, and Mary agreed that that was fair.

It was relaxing to sit back and enjoy the movie without any thoughts of tomorrow would be. Finally, Mary let her bones relax and be free of her bondages and heavy work, like a bird spreading its wings, her head slowly fell onto Matthews's shoulder. He instantly tensed, and she immediately regretted letting her guard down, but she couldn't bring her head up from its new home. Then, when Matthew finally spread his wings, her dark thoughts faded into pastels, and Mary Crawley had happily fallen asleep on her friend's shoulders, and Matthew Crawley was happy to oblige.

* * *

**1:56 AM - Bates, Apt. Londen, England**

* * *

The first thing Mary noticed when she woke was the smell. Sort of Spiced, like clove and nutmeg, also sweet, like honey. The next sense she recovered was touch. Something warm and solid underneath her head, but a texture like denim. After a moment, without opening her eyes, Mary began to remember the previous events of last- well, she couldn't tell what time it was, or if it was the next morning. She felt peaceful and safe, she didn't want to move or ruin the feeling of security by opening her eyes.

"Um, Tom?"

Mary heard a short masculine grunt from her right, "Yeah, Mate?"

"She's still asleep," Matthew said wearily.

"And?"

"My legs are going numb."

Tom groaned, "Anything else?"

"Could you please just wake her up for me?"

"Why not you?"

"What if she gets mad at me?"

"What if she gets mad at _me_?"

"Fine. I'll do it."

There was a crisp laugh from behind her. Edith, _Mary _thought_._ And with that, she finally opened her eyes lazily as Matthew began to lightly tap her shoulder. Matthew yelped when he saw her brown eyes wide open. _Am I that hideous?_ She thought, _Oh sh- shoot. I forgot to take my makeup off! Shoooot._ Mary growling short and loud, and Matthew yelped again.

"Okay! I'll let you sleep."

That was when she remembered _everything_. She had fallen asleep on her sisters boyfriends best friend lap. She closed her eyes, how did this happen?

"What time is it?" Mary asked sweetly.

Tom cleared his voice, slightly- very, concerned, "Umm, it's about two in the morning."

"Please tell me your joking." Mary begged. She had tea with Mama this afternoon, and didn't like the idea of showing up with bags under her eyes, and a splitting hangover. Of course, Mary blames Edith and Sybil, they were the ones who were supposed to stop her from doing something stupid! And Edith would like nothing more than hummulating Mary.

"No were not," Bates said from somewhere in the kitchen. "After the movie finished, we watched Sybil's favorite movie. Something called Human Flow. With a fifteen something minute break."

"It was a good movie." Matthew said, attempting to explain for the late hour.

"It really wasn't. To dramatic." Edith said

"Well, aren't you a little cynic!" Cried Mary as she raised her head from Matthews lap, subconsciously sad to be leaving the comfort. "Sybil may have horrible taste in movies, but I'll trust Matthews jugnent." She paused, glancing around. "Speaking of that, where is Sybil?"

"I dropped her off across the hall about a half hour ago, she fell asleep a little after you." Said Tom.

"I'm going back to. You should have woken me up earlier! I told Mama that I would meet her for tea at three."

"Isn't that a little early?" Matthew asked

Edith spoke up again, "No, after that she has dinner with Henry."

"Thank you Edith," Mary said, clearly not thankful, "But I am perfectly capable of telling Matthew myself."

"Why are you having dinner with him? I thought you hated him!" Matthew said

Mary rolled her eyes. She really did hate him, lothe him really "The point is I'm going." Mary tried to stand up, but her legs were shaking, and her light headache worsened as the blood rushed from her head.

"You need help?" Matthew asked. "You look sort of shaky."

"Oh, no thank you."

She stumbled over the door, and turned the doorknob, as though she was still asleep. She stumbled across the short hall, tossed herself into her apartment, and was immediately soothed by the soft snores coming from the right, the direction of Sybils room.

Mary walked herself into her bedroom, landing in her bed. She was instantly asleep, and dreaming of blonde haired men with ice eyes.

* * *

_Stepping out from the edge of the crowd_

_So they won't mislead me._


End file.
